Iran Reconsiders Lebanon Effort

February 04, 1988|By Peyman Pejman, Special to The Tribune.

BEIRUT — After five years of unceasing efforts to win the hearts and minds of more than 1 million Shiite Moslems in Lebanon, Iran`s leadership is skeptical that it can achieve much more in this war-torn country.

According to Iranian and Lebanese sources, officials in Tehran are re-evaluating their long-term goals in Lebanon.

``What the authorities in Tehran are asking themselves is: Have we or are we going to achieve the goals we had in mind when we committed ourselves to the fundamentalists here?`` an Iranian diplomat said.

The Iranian government is reported by the Beirut media to be spending about $5 million a month on its allies in Lebanon. Iranian officials said the figure is closer to $3 million a month.

According to Iranian diplomats, confronting the Israeli presence in south Lebanon and creating a Shiite-dominated Islamic republic in this country were two main Iran objectives when it dispatched hundreds of its Revolutionary Guards here in 1982.

Iran also has said it wants to liberate Jerusalem from Zionist control, but Iranian officials in Beirut said Tehran knew from the beginning that was not within its power.

The first setback for Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini`s government, according to several sources in Beirut, came in 1984 when a leading pro-Iranian cleric, Sheik Mohamed Hussein Fadlallah, spiritual guide of the radical Hezbollah fundamentalists, said he did not support the idea of establishing an Islamic republic in Lebanon.

``That was the first, and probably the most effective, setback for us,``

said an Iranian official with close ties to the Iranian leadership.

``The situation in Lebanon is very different from the situation in Iran before the Islamic revolution,`` Fadlallah said. ``Lebanon is a country sharply divided along confessional lines. We just cannot have a carbon copy of Iran here.``

Instead of accepting Fadlallah`s word, Iran looked for and found other religious leaders who advocated the idea of an Islamic regime.

The problem was, Lebanese observers said, no one had Fadlallah`s caliber and popularity.

``Fadlallah`s dissension basically split Hezbollah right down the middle and made Iran do the impossible thing, handle everything from Tehran,`` an Iranian official said.

Iran also has been facing difficulties recruiting more active Shiites. Helping needy Lebanese with financial assistance has brought some Shiites under the Iranian flag, but that seems to be a temporary success.

According to an Iranian official, officials in Tehran have concluded that they cannot buy the Shiites` loyalty.

Another setback for Iran was fighting the Israeli occupation in south Lebanon, where the Shiite Amal movement has traditionally had a large base. According to Iranian and Amal sources, Iran wanted an active confrontation with Israeli troops and their allies, the militia called the South Lebanon Army.

Unlike Iran, however, neither Amal nor the Palestinians wanted the kind of all-out war Tehran was preaching.

But Iran`s problems in south Lebanon were not only with Lebanese and Palestinians. Syria had its reasons to keep an eye on the Iranians.

Damascus, faced with Western sanctions and allegations of sponsoring terrorism, has been keen on getting back on the U.S. good-guys list. Unless Syria kept Iranian activities under control, the U.S. was unlikely to change its mind.

Iran`s other problem in waging an all-out war against Israel is the nature of its resistance. Most resistance groups in south Lebanon, including Amal and Palestinian fighters, look at their struggle with the Jewish state from a nationalistic viewpoint.

A militiaman in south Lebanon, who has participated in some joint operations with Iranians said: ``Iranians down here cannot get religion out of their mind. We have problems understanding each other. They want to give everything a religious meaning; they constantly try to convert us to their brand of religion. It is just becoming harder to work with them.``